Steven R. Covey, the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (1989)

Steven R. Covey, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (1989) “Over 15 Million Sold”

Habit 1: Be Proactive Synopsis: Taking initiative in life by realizing your decisions (and how they align with life's principles) are the primary determining factor for effectiveness in your life. Taking responsibility for your choices and the subsequent consequences that follow. . Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind Synopsis: Self-discover and clarify your deeply important character values and life goals. Envision the ideal characteristics for each of your various roles and relationships in life. It is always better to try and foresee situtaions. Predict outcomes and then think of worst case senarios, will help come up with informed decisions. . Habit 3: Put First Things First Synopsis: Planning, prioritizing, and executing your week's tasks based on importance rather than urgency. Evaluating if your efforts exemplify your desired character values, propel you towards goals, and enrich the roles and relationships elaborated in Habit 2.Prioritization is the key to the sucess of any business or in any walk of life. Proactivness rather reactivness leads to sucess. The next three have to do with Interdependence (i.e. working with others) . Habit 4: Think Win-Win Synopsis: Genuinely striving for mutually beneficial solutions or agreements in your relationships. Valuing and respecting people by understanding a "win" for all is ultimately a better long-term resolution than if only one person in the situation had gotten his way. Everyone will feel inclusive and involved. A better environment of trust and loyalty establishes. . Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, then to be understood Synopsis: Using empathetic listening to be genuinely influenced by a person, which compels them to reciprocate the listening and take an open mind to being influenced by you. This creates an atmosphere of caring, respect, and positive problem solving. This can also avoid situtaions where the problem doesnot actully exsist and its just a matter of misunderstanding. It is always said that listen double to what you talk since we have 2 ears to listen and one mouth to talk. . Habit 6: Synergize Synopsis: Combining the strengths of people through positive teamwork, so as to achieve goals no one person could have done alone. How to yield the most prolific performance out of a group of people through encouraging meaningful contribution, and modeling inspirational and supportive leadership. Everyone is a master of something and not everything. Positive potentials can be put together to achieve better results. The last habit relates to self-rejuvenation; . Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw Synopsis: The balancing and renewal of your resources, energy, and health to create a sustainable long-term effective lifestyle. This is constant improvment of ones self inorder to be better human being and to sharpen our skills inorder to achieve better results. Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936, 1981, etc. etc.) Twelve Things This Book Will Do For You 1. Get you out of a mental rut, give you new thoughts, new visions, new ambitions. 2. Enable you to make friends quickly and easily. 3. Increase your popularity. 4. Help you to win people to your way of thinking. 5. Increase your influence, your prestige, your ability to get things done. 6. Enable you to win new clients, new customers. 7. Increase your earning power. 8. Make you a better salesman, a better executive. 9. Help you to handle complaints, avoid arguments, keep your human contacts smooth and pleasant. 10. Make you a better speaker, a more entertaining conversationalist. 11. Make the principles of psychology easy for you to apply in your daily contacts. 12. Help you to arouse enthusiasm among your associates.

The book has six major sections. The core principles of each section are quoted below. Fundamental Techniques in Handling People 1. Don't criticize, condemn, or complain. 2. Give honest and sincere appreciation. 3. Arouse in the other person an eager want. Six Ways to Make People Like You 1. Become genuinely interested in other people. 2. Smile. 3. Remember that a person's name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language. 4. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves. 5. Talk in terms of the other person's interest. 6. Make the other person feel important - and do it sincerely. Twelve Ways to Win People to Your Way of Thinking 1. The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it. 2. Show respect for the other person's opinions. Never say "You're Wrong.". 3. If you're wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically. 4. Begin in a friendly way. 5. Start with questions to which the other person will answer yes. 6. Let the other person do a great deal of the talking. 7. Let the other person feel the idea is his or hers. 8. Try honestly to see things from the other person's point of view. 9. Be sympathetic with the other person's ideas and desires. 10. Appeal to the nobler motives. 11. Dramatize your ideas. 12. Throw down a challenge Be a Leader: How to Change People Without Giving Offense or Arousing Resentment 1. Begin with praise and honest appreciation. 2. Call attention to people's mistakes indirectly. 3. Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person. 4. Ask questions instead of giving direct orders. 5. Let the other person save face. 6. Praise every improvement. 7. Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to. 8. Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct. 9. Make the other person happy about doing what you suggest.